Police cracked down on the agitating students and detained them after a four-hour-long drama outside the college campus
Violent clashes broke out on Wednesday at Ramjas College between two student groups – the Left-wing backed All India Students Association (AISA) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) – a day after the college cancelled an invitation to JNU students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid Shora.
Police cracked down on the agitating students and detained them after a four-hour-long drama outside the college campus.
As many as 15 students and some journalists were injured. “Delhi University’s English professor Dr Prasanta Chakravarty received serious injuries and was rushed to the Hindu Rao hospital,” said Kawalpreet Kaur, a Delhi University student and AISA president. Taruni Kumar, a journalist at an online portal, was also allegedly beaten up by ABVP members.
“While doing Facebook live for Quint, my phone was grabbed by ABVP members. They pulled my hair and punched my face. They broke my phone and the mike as well,” she said on social media.
The clashes began when hundreds of students from Ramjas and other colleges reached the campus, from where they were to take out a protest march to the Maurice Nagar police station, demanding action against ABVP, over the ruckus created by them on Tuesday.
A large contingent of police was deployed outside the college to maintain law and order even as students got into a scuffle. “The ABVP, along with the police, almost blockaded the college. They are threatening that no march out of the college will be allowed. They also locked down students and teachers inside college premises and threatened AISA members when they tried to rescue the teachers,” students said.
The agitating students alleged that while ABVP members cracked down on them, the Delhi police stood as mute spectators.
“Female students were also beaten up by ABVP members and the Delhi police. It seems there is no law in the University of Delhi, with the DU administration maintaining a deafening silence,” said Sangeeta, a protester, who also received injuries.
“Teachers have been repeatedly threatened. Some of them were told that they would face the consequence for showing solidarity with the protesting students,” said Vinita Chandra, a faculty member at Ramjas.
The ABVP, however, said, that they did not want to turn DU into another JNU. “These protesting students were shouting anti-national slogans at the campus. Some ABVP members were also thrashed by the AISA members,” claimed Amit Tanwar, DUSA president and a ABVP member.
Later in the day, the Delhi police detained around 100 students. Hundreds of students reached the Maurice Nagar police station, demanding an FIR against ABVP members. They were again beaten up by the police. “Students were silently protesting there and the police cracked down on us. They did not even file an FIR against the ABVP goons,” Kaur told DNA.
Dependra Pathak, Special Commissioner of Police (Southwest), said: “An FIR has been registered against unknown persons. The police will identify the accused who were creating a ruckus and hurting other people. Eight policemen, including Station House Officer of Maurice Nagar (North Delhi), Arti Sharma, suffered injuries. The SHO sustained an injury on her right ear,” said Special Commissioner of Police (South-West) Dependra Pathak. With regard to the attack on mediapersons, he said: “We will identify the culprits and take appropriate action.”
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